The People Shouting They Are Destroying There Own Land Fails to realize that even when you have nothing to loose from burning down your own house. Burning it down maybe the best option as it is the only means of protesting to get what you want. Nigeria is still a very stubborn country, the people are stubborn, the leaders are stubborn so peaceful dialogue and negotiation hardly get anywhere, which is the reason why during the last struggle before amnesty, it was only those registered as militants that benefited from the amnesty programme leaving the rest of the Niger Delta people on their own for choosing not to be violent. The gas that flows through the pipeline does not benefit them finally in the form of electricity, and they value the damage Nigeria will experience as a result of vandalization over whatever they will suffer for destroying the pipeline, so their best option is then to vandalize. Remember not all human decisions are rational, a lot are irrational. If you plot the decision these people are making using a pay off matrix from Game Theory, you will discover their nash equilibrum is to vandalize which is exactly what they are doing. It does not take rocket science, to alter the pay off matrix and decision making of these people to be aligned to the interest of Nigeria as a nation. But Nigeria is where everybody wants to look strong, without assessing issues at the root cause. They boast as if they have the same military might as the US, that they won't negotiate with violent groups. Whatever anybody says, there is an injustice in the Niger Delta that needs to be addressed, the way of violence is not the rational way, but like I said humans are not a lot of times rational in their decision making. It is unfair for over 70% of the federal government's revenue to come from the Niger Delta in a "federation" of 36 full fledged states with men, with two hands to work. The rational thing to do, is to ensure that every region in Nigeria carries equal weight of funding the federal government, this will not only dilute the power of each region to sabotage the nation but represent fairness in a nation where there is already tension along ethnic lines. Diversifying the economy for equal contribution will take time, but that does not mean action cannot be taken today, reduce the contribution from the Niger Delta to the federal government to the extent that they are contributing the same as their counterparts in other states today. If other areas claim not to have any money and contribute zero, the Niger Delta should contribute zero too. Nigeria has a GDP of over $550B but yet, the government raises only 6% tax as a percentage of GDP, while oil accounts for 11% of GDP, the implication is that the Federal Government is telling every area in Nigeria to keep our $550B a year in our pockets, that there is plenty oil in the Niger Delta to even afford to give monthly allocations to states and fund "national development", this is called national bullying! The irrational thing to do, is to invite the military and declare war, because that will even help to diminish oil production which is most important to the government further and the presence of the Nigerian security agencies does not make anywhere anymore secure in Nigeria. The truth is the Niger Delta is being treated unfairly as regards contribution to the centre, why don't we address this issue once and for all and march on with our lives. He who has oil, needs yam that maybe planted somewhere in the north to eat it and enjoy it, so we should see this as a huge reason to bring in fairness and diversify this country's economy really fast.

By Ebuka Anyanwu ...

Even pmb supporters know this, but everyone's shying away from the truth smh...
Giant of Africa my foot!

My God will bless you op

naijaracist:
Diversifying the economy for equal contribution will take time, but that does not mean action cannot be taken today, reduce the contribution from the Niger Delta to the federal government to the extent that they are contributing the same as their counterparts in other states today. If other areas claim not to have any money and contribute zero, the Niger Delta should contribute zero too. Nigeria has a GDP of over $550B but yet, the government raises only 6% tax as a percentage of GDP, while oil accounts for 11% of GDP, the implication is that the Federal Government is telling every area in Nigeria to keep our $550B a year in our pockets, that there is plenty oil in the Niger Delta to even afford to give monthly allocations to states and fund "national development", this is called national bullying.

By Ebuka Anyanwu ...

Pure Brilliance. I have not looked at it from this angle before.